Teacher's job in jeopardy after racial tweets

[Mitch Henessey]

(CNN) -- A Texas teacher has been "suspended without pay pending discharge" after accusations that she sent racially charged tweets about the incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, a representative for the Duncanville Independent School District said at a press conference.

Vinita Hegwood, a high school English teacher at Duncanville High School near Dallas, allegedly sent the tweets from her personal Twitter account Friday.

"Who the (expletive) made you dumb (expletive) crackers think I give a squat (expletive) about your opinions. #Ferguson Kill yourselves," read one of the messages.

Later that evening another tweet appeared, saying, "You exhibit ***** behavior, I'm a call you a *****. You acting crackerish, I'm a call you a cracker." Hegwood is African-American.

It's not clear exactly to what or whom she was referring, but the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, have often hinged on race, as Michael Brown was a black teen killed by Officer Darren Wilson, a white policeman. A grand jury is expected to decide soon whether Wilson will face charges.

Hegwood is in her second year at Duncanville High School, where she maintained a website for her students, www.englishandelephants.com.

The Twitter account from which she allegedly made the comments has since been taken down. Hegwood did not immediately respond to CNN's calls and emails seeking comment.

Lari Barager, Duncanville Independent School District spokeswoman, called the messages "offensive" and "reprehensible" and stressed the tweets do not represent the 240 other teachers at Duncanville High School.

The swiftness and severity with which administrators acted demonstrate how seriously they view the incident, Barager said. It's rare to be suspended without pay, the fullest disciplinary action allowed under district policy, she said.

Hegwood began meeting with administrators Monday at 7:15 a.m. By 8:30 a.m., "there was a conclusion and this decision had been made," Barager said.

District employees do have the right to free speech, Barager said, but Hegwood's comments were so egregious, the school was left with "no other option."

The board of trustees for the school district will decide Hegwood's fate at its next meeting on December 8.

Hegwood's tweets are the latest example of the percolating tensions and controversy that have spread beyond the Ferguson city limits in the aftermath of the Brown shooting.

In September, Ralph Weems, a Marine and Iraq war veteran, was severely beaten in a Mississippi restaurant parking lot. Weems, who is white, allegedly left a Waffle House after he was told it wasn't safe there for white people because patrons inside were upset about the Ferguson situation.

Weems left and was apparently followed to a Huddle House, where he was attacked. He continues to recover, but struggles with long-term memory loss, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help pay for his medical expenses.

In another incident, the Missouri State University newspaper staff printed racially charged language on the cover of its paper following a black equality protest two weeks before the school's October homecoming game.

The quotes, which included the f-word and racial slurs that were hurled at the protesters and "Go back to Ferguson!" were allegedly shouted to protesters by other students. The staff said it wanted to highlight the abuse the protesters received.

Also, a mother and daughter were arrested during another October protest at a St. Louis Rams football game after allegedly spitting on and punching fans during a clash.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/11/us/dallas-teacher-suspended-ferguson-tweet/index.html

Of course, Vinita Hegwood has the right to speak her mind, and she can say the first thing that pops into her head. Hegwood is not the first (and she won't be the last) person to voice their uncensored opinions about Ferguson, so some will say "what's the big deal?"

But when you look at the other side of the coin, Hegwood is a teacher. As an educator, she's held to a higher standard, because she's supposed to set the example.

Also, Hegwood had to expect some form of punishment for this, right? This is not the first publicized social media related incident, where someone goes off on a tirade, and said person is under fire for their comments. I find it hard to believe Hegwood chose to bury her head in the sand all these years, so you have to wonder what was going through her mind, when she made the choice to send out the tweets. After all, as the article says, it's unclear, who Hegwood was responding to, or what motivated her to post the tweets.

For now, Hegwood is staying quiet, and there's no public apology. Maybe Hegwood made a mistake, or there's a chance she's going to stand behind her words without backing down. Still, we're in an uncomfortable spot right now for racial tensions in the US, and Ferguson is a touchy subject for obvious reasons. That's why I'm baffled by Hegwood's decision to jump on Twitter, and post the tweets above, because deeps down inside, she had to know someone would see them and recognize her name.

As far as Hegwood's job as a teacher goes, I find it hard to believe she'll be able to continue teaching at the school after this. The tweets are out there, the story is out there, the administrators already hit Hegwood with the severest punishment allowed under the district policy, and there's a good chance parents will line up with pitchforks and torches to push for Hegwood's dismissal. Should Hegwood keep her job? I believe in second chances, and I believe Hegwood deserves a chance to explain herself, but realistically, I just can't picture a scenario where Hegwood keeps her job.

All thoughts and discussion regarding this article are welcome.

 

[klunderbunker]

If nothing else, fire the English teacher for that horrible grammar on Twitter.

This is the same type of story that comes up all the time anymore and it's going to get my standard response: if you're going to post something online under your name, be prepared to accept the consequences for what you say. I'm not a social media guy, but I'm sure there are ways you can post things anonymously to avoid the backlash for these things. If she just had to get this out of her system, write it under a pseudonym or in a journal or something that isn't as likely to be traced. I don't feel sorry for her and I'd have no problem if she was fired for saying stupid things like this.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The problem I have with the whole "free speech" argument is that it can't always be used as a shield to protect people. As with anything else in life, there are very, very, very, very few absolutes and while everyone is entitled to his/her opinion and can say what they feel like, that doesn't mean that "free speech" is a shield that can deflect all negative consequences. After all, I can't walk into my boss' office and say that I think he's a no dick poodle humper who's breath smells worse than the devil's buttcrack without consequences.

In the case of Vinita Hegwood, it's something of a double whammy. Not only were her Tweets racially charged, she's also an educator. She's a human being with faults & imperfections just like everyone else, but she's also someone who decided to make it her life's work to teach the kids of America. That means that when she decides to make her personal & private thoughts public via something like Twitter, she needs to consider how expressing those thoughts could affect her profession and how her students perceive her. It looks bad if you're someone who informs children that there are some words that are unacceptable and shouldn't be said because of how hurtful they are only for her to turn around and use them herself. There's no way to sugar coat it, it simply makes you look bad and is going to have an effect on how some people see her.

As to whether she should keep her job, I'm of the opinion she should be let go. This isn't a case of he said/she said where people are making accusations that someone made racially charged remarks without any proof or witnesses because she sent the Tweets. She doesn't deny it, she can't deny it because it was from her Twitter account and her credibility as a teacher won't ever be the same.

While the term "cracker" doesn't have the sort of history to it that the N-word has, it doesn't mean that it's any less offensive and the whole topic of racial slurs has sort of become a double standard. There are some African Americans who believe it's fine to call each other the N-word, but not if it's someone of a different skin color; there are also some that feel it's perfectly okay calling Caucasians "cracker." On the whole, there's probably no more loaded word in the English language than the N-word because of the history of slavery in the United States. Compared to that history, "cracker" may not seem all that bad, but a racial slur is a racial slur no matter how you look at it.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Maybe Hegwood made a mistake....

She didn't make a mistake. Words like that don't come out of a person's mouth (or keyboard) by mistake. As explicitly as she put things....and as an educator who has Internet savvy since she maintains a web site for her students, she had to be aware of what her words meant and how they would be received when people read them.

Let the administrators decide the punishment; they'll give her a second chance or they won't. She'll keep her job or not. She'll learn the consequences of stuff like this or she won't. If she wants to defend herself at the hearing, it will interesting to see what she says.

But she didn't "make a mistake." Society sloughs off too much on that lame excuse.